A multi-banded shade assembly includes a shade assembly comprising multiple smaller width shadebands. Multi-banded shade assemblies may occur in manual (e.g., chain/rope clutch assembly) and/or motorized shading systems. Multi-banded shade assemblies are advantageous because they can employ a single (or reduced) drive mechanism to operate multiple bands, thereby reducing cost and increasing maintenance efficiency. Multi-banded shade assemblies are also advantageous because they can drive a larger shade width (often times better as an assembly than as a single shade) due to limitations in the deflection of the roller tube. Multi-banded shade assemblies are further advantageous because they enable the fitting of a wide shade assembly into a smaller pocket condition. For example, by breaking a single shade down into several smaller width bands, the multi-banded assembly employs a smaller diameter tube for these bands to meet the same or better deflection characteristics across the span of the shade assembly. The deflection of the roller tube can negatively affect the flatness of the fabric falling on a shade which causes, under negative circumstances, a partial or full “smile” ripple across the fabric.
Furthermore, multi-banded shade assemblies are often very difficult to install. For example, linking up the various bands in a multi-banded group usually involves accurately aligning the bottom hembars for all of the adjacent shadebands. However, without an adjustment facility in the coupling mechanism, various factors may cause the shadebands to misalign. The factors causing misalignment include, for example, the manufacturing tolerances which accommodate the design of the coupling mechanism to the tube, the extruded diameter of the tube, the varying thickness of the fabric, the tightness with which the fabric falls onto the tube and the length of the shade. Importantly, the uniformity of the shade bands can easily vary by as much as, for example, +/−¼ inch on a 96 inch long shadeband which results in a variance of 0.0026.
Common industry practices such as, for example, “shimming” of the shadeband are usually very time consuming and only align the shade at one point in the shade's positioning. Thus, if a user tries to stop the shade assembly somewhere in the middle of the window after shimming it at the bottom, the bands are typically no longer aligned. The practice of shimming attempts to change the height of the hembar by building up the roller tube diameter in one spot using a piece of tape or paper tucked up under the shadeband near its attachment to the roller tube. This practice effectively changes the shape of the roller tube. As such, when the roller tube rotates next to a shade that did not require shimming, the two shades will often take-up fabric at different rates throughout the tubes rotation. Over multiple rotations, the effect of any differences in tube shape, and ultimately the correlation of rotational angle with circumference, affect fabric take-up on the roller tube, thereby magnifying the misalignment and causing larger and larger misalignment between the adjacent bands. A long felt need exists for an improved system and method for mounting and aligning multi-banded shade assemblies, and adjusting the height of one shade band without effecting the adjacent shade band, thereby achieving level and alignment at the hem, or at the sill, mid-point or head of a window or wall.